# Latin translation help **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 8, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036 "2012-10-08T00:35:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/1 "2012-10-08T00:35:22Z")
I’ve tried the [Google translation](http://translate.google.com/#en/la/) and it comes up with two different answers depending, on all things, whether there is a comma or not. The phrase is: **First, do nothing** It is meant as an imperative in the sense of when coming upon a situation, stop and suss out what is happening and not to jump into things with instant impressions. When entered with the comma, Google responds _Primum, ne quid_ Without, _Primum facis nihil_ Comparing it to the Hippocratic admonition _Primum non nocere_ (First do no harm) I would incline towards the first translation, but what do I know about the subtleties of Latin. Can any scholars tell me which of the two I’d want, or would something else entirely be more suitable? ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/2 "2012-10-08T01:44:51Z")
I have another one for you: _fac prius nihil_ I just ran several versions through the translator. I think you definitely want “nihil” and “primo”. Then you want the present imperative of “facio” … “fit” or “fiunt”? Primo nihil fit? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/3 "2012-10-08T01:50:19Z")
My Latin is very rusty, but the second version looks much more likely to me. Somehow, the first version seems to have lost its verb altogether, and I think it says something like “First, not what”. “Nihil” _does_ mean “nothing” and I think “facis” is some form of the verb to do, though whether it is the right one I am not sure. I am also not sure that “primum” is the right form. I would have guessed “primus”, but I am not sure whether the word can be used adverbially (as "first is being used here) anyway. Classical Latin did not use punctuation at all, but it is generally acceptable to punctuate modern Latin if you want. I do not know why the comma confused Google translate so much. ETA: **j666** probably knows better than me. (He might be the Emperor Nero. :)) ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/4 "2012-10-08T02:25:32Z")
I think I found a good conjugation for facio. Is this to be addressed to one person, or a group? The singular imperative is “face”; the plural is “facite”. So, if you are instructing a group of people, use “facite”. However, if you are advising each person in that group on how to act as an individual, use “face”. Was that clear? For a platoon of Marine, “facite”; for a graduating class, “face”. “Primo” is the adverb, “primus, -a, -um” is the adjective. (I’m checking this all out on line; I just know enough Latin to know the word “conjugate”, and not confuse it with conjugal.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/5 "2012-10-08T04:54:48Z")
\*Facere \*is a special case, being one of three Latin verbs whose singular imperatives are truncated – dūc, dīc and fac. _Prīmus -a -um_ is an adjective, but two forms of it are commonly used adverbally: _prīmum_ and _prīmō_. Either would be interchangeable in the sense of ‘in the first place’ as would _prīmum dum_ or _prīmumdum_. _Nīl_ is also interchangable with _nihil_. That allows for a slightly punchier version: _Prīmō, nīl fac._ Of course, you could always go with the negative command: _Prīmō, nē quid faciās._ ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/6 "2012-10-08T11:46:03Z")
> [@j666](#): > > I think I found a good conjugation for facio. Is this to be addressed to one person, or a group? > > The singular imperative is “face”; the plural is “facite”. > > So, if you are instructing a group of people, use “facite”. However, if you are advising each person in that group on how to act as an individual, use “face”. > > Was that clear? For a platoon of Marine, “facite”; for a graduating class, “face”. > > “Primo” is the adverb, “primus, -a, -um” is the adjective. > > (I’m checking this all out on line; I just know enough Latin to know the word “conjugate”, and not confuse it with conjugal.) Good way to put it, **j666**. It would be your second case, the graduating class. Figures I would have picked a weird verb, **Johnny Angel**. Do the diacriticals over _Prīmō, nīl_ signify anything? Man, Latin is hard. Glad I skipped it in high school for something easy like German (which has all but evaporated anyway). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/7 "2012-10-08T13:30:58Z")
Doh! I forgot _fer_, the fourth truncated imperative. The macrons over the vowels indicate that the vowel is long. These marks are thought of as being for beginners, but I personally think that they should be used all the time for the same reason we put the _e_ at the end of _rate_ even though context will nearly always distinguish it from _rat_. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/8 "2012-10-08T23:26:01Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Good way to put it, **j666**. It would be your second case, the graduating class. > > Figures I would have picked a weird verb, **Johnny Angel**. Do the diacriticals over _Prīmō, nīl_ signify anything? > > Man, Latin is hard. Glad I skipped it in high school for something easy like German (which has all but evaporated anyway). Are we talking high school, or college? Because, if it’s high school, watch your pronunciation of “ **fac** ”. Johnny Angel’s translation would make a very nice motto. That’s a joke about German, right? Because Latin at least keeps it verbs together and doesn’t let them go running all around the sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/9 "2012-10-09T01:26:37Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Are we talking high school, or college? Because, if it’s high school, watch your pronunciation of “ **fac** ”. Yes, the short-a should sound very much like the _uh_ sound in English. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/10 "2012-10-09T02:37:53Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > \*Facere \*is a special case, being one of three Latin verbs whose singular imperatives are truncated – dūc, dīc and fac. > > _Prīmus -a -um_ is an adjective, but two forms of it are commonly used adverbally: _prīmum_ and _prīmō_. Either would be interchangeable in the sense of ‘in the first place’ as would _prīmum dum_ or _prīmumdum_. _Nīl_ is also interchangable with _nihil_. That allows for a slightly punchier version: > > _Prīmō, nīl fac._ > > Of course, you could always go with the negative command: > > _Prīmō, nē quid faciās._ It has been many years since I studied Latin, but I seem to recall that the construction of a negative imperative literally translated to “Be unwilling to \” rather than “Don’t \.” Possibly? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/11 "2012-10-09T03:01:29Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > … when coming upon a situation, stop and suss out what is happening and not to jump into things with instant impressions Note that _primum non nocere_ (“first, do no harm”) is widely used, and often attributed to the Hippocratic oath. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/12 "2012-10-09T11:47:45Z")
> [@j666](#): > > That’s a joke about German, right? Because Latin at least keeps it verbs together and doesn’t let them go running all around the sentence. Kinda. It was more their habit of stringing words together like pop beads I was thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/13 "2012-10-09T15:53:01Z")
> [@Barrett\_Bonden](#): > > It has been many years since I studied Latin, but I seem to recall that the construction of a negative imperative literally translated to “Be unwilling to \” rather than “Don’t \.” Possibly? That would also work. _Prīmō, nōlī aliquid facere_. Literally, “First, don’t wish to do anything” but as you say _nōlī_ has the force of _don’t_. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/637036/14 "2012-10-10T00:53:07Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Kinda. It was more their habit of stringing words together like pop beads I was thinking of. Eisenbahnknotenpunkthinundherschieber